07/29: Bobby Abreu
Posted by: Patrick
Bobby Abreu is good. How good? I'm not sure. But, this much is true: he's 32 years old. Throughout his career, he has been very durable. Starting from 1998 (his first full season), he has played between 151 (1998) and 162 (2001 and 2005) games. He has missed just 2 games this year. He's a career .301 hitter and his career OBA is .412. Coming into this year, he was 8th in OBA among active players. Since 1998, his OBA has been below .400 (.393) just once. Not even OBA machine Giambi can say that. In those seasons, his OBA has ranged from .405 (2005) to .446 (1999). He's at .427 this year, even if he is on pace for the lowest batting average of his career (.277). And he won his first gold glove last year (I know that gold gloves are subjective, but a gold glove is a gold glove, no matter how you slice it).
He's making $13 million this year and $15 million next year. And he wants his 2008 option of $16 million (really $14 million, since it has a $2 million buyout) picked up. By then, he'd be 34 years old, which isn't that bad. The thought, I would guess, would be that we trade for Abreu. He takes RF. Matsui comes back, takes LF. Sheffield comes back, whenever that is, and maybe gets some OF time, but is primarily a DH.
So, for the next two years, Matsui, Damon and Abreu becomes our OF, since they are all under contract. We either decline Sheffield's option or pick him up at a discount to be a DH (not too likely). Offensively, it's a great outfield. Defensively, it seems generally good, as well. That's subjective, I imagine. But, I'd say that at worst, it's "not bad." Imagine this lineup for the playoff run in September and, assuming we make the playoffs, those as well:
C - Jorge Posada
1B - Jason Giambi
2B - Robinson Cano (After Time Off)
3B - Alex Rodrigiez
SS - Derek Jeter
LF - Hideki Matsui (After Time Off)
CF - Johnny Damon
RF - Bobby Abreu
DH - Gary Sheffield (After Time Off)
Of course, it comes down to what will it take to make it happen. If we can make it happen without dealing the cream of our crop, then I'm interested. I don't know how great Lieber is (especially for this and next year), but I guess he's most likely got to be better than Wright, Ponson, et all., so if we have to take him, or Lidle, that would be worth doing. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. We'll know soon.
He's making $13 million this year and $15 million next year. And he wants his 2008 option of $16 million (really $14 million, since it has a $2 million buyout) picked up. By then, he'd be 34 years old, which isn't that bad. The thought, I would guess, would be that we trade for Abreu. He takes RF. Matsui comes back, takes LF. Sheffield comes back, whenever that is, and maybe gets some OF time, but is primarily a DH.
So, for the next two years, Matsui, Damon and Abreu becomes our OF, since they are all under contract. We either decline Sheffield's option or pick him up at a discount to be a DH (not too likely). Offensively, it's a great outfield. Defensively, it seems generally good, as well. That's subjective, I imagine. But, I'd say that at worst, it's "not bad." Imagine this lineup for the playoff run in September and, assuming we make the playoffs, those as well:
C - Jorge Posada
1B - Jason Giambi
2B - Robinson Cano (After Time Off)
3B - Alex Rodrigiez
SS - Derek Jeter
LF - Hideki Matsui (After Time Off)
CF - Johnny Damon
RF - Bobby Abreu
DH - Gary Sheffield (After Time Off)
Of course, it comes down to what will it take to make it happen. If we can make it happen without dealing the cream of our crop, then I'm interested. I don't know how great Lieber is (especially for this and next year), but I guess he's most likely got to be better than Wright, Ponson, et all., so if we have to take him, or Lidle, that would be worth doing. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. We'll know soon.
Rollingwave wrote:
I like the move, it makes Melky the 4th OF for the next couple of years (but will probably see a lot of time) until we can see if he becomes a legit starter or not.
This move is essentially playing to the Yankee's greatest strength.. filthy $$$$$$ .. if Cashman gets this done. kudos to him